Larry Riley Explains/Defends His Decision

Say what you want about the man, he is present and accountable. He didn’t dodge the media, didn’t skirt any questions, nor did he complain about the negative reaction he’s gotten for his decision. And he clearly explained why he made the decision he made.

The gist: he didn’t do anything to hurt the Warriors plans by waiving Speedy Claxton and his $5.2 million contract. Here are his answers in full (The first two questions were from a season-ticket holder who bogarded our interview. They were good questions):

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You’re getting blasted on the internet

Would you expect that? All that was anticipated before we did it.

We went through all the trade scenarious, the things that we’ve talked abnout, and the potential trades, and we’re in a situation where we have enough money in the contracts that we have along with some our existing players to be able to make a deal that get you in the range of nine, 10, 11, 12 million dollars. 13. That’s the range where can go to get a player who is a good player.

Now, if you want to get up top $20 million and get into that range of those players – and I’m not supposed to mention their names, but you know who they are – then you would have to have Speedy’s money. You would have to be in position to where then you would take on that money and you would hope to go attract one of those three or four guys – and you know who we’re talking about – in free agency. We cannot get those guys to come here. We’re not a winning tradition team right now and we’re not a major media market, although we’re a good media market. We’re in a situation where we’re just not going to get those guys. So our range is in that range that’s below that and we have enough players where if we find a guy that is making $12 million, for example, who is a good player that we want to acquire, we can still make a trade for that guy. If this money had taken us out of that, we would have never gone in that direction. Plus, you’re also looking down the road at managing your cap.

We don’t want to give anybody away. What we’re looking at is being able to have some money this year to re-sign some of our existing players, which Morrow fits in that category, with the possibility of Raja Bell and maybe another free agent. So that’s the direction that we’re taking on that.

Will you have to trade one of your four highest-paid players?

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We’re not trading Monta Ellis, and we’re not trading Stephen Curry. And if we have to trade some of the other players, we’re going to look at it. It’s very difficult to take what we have and trade for a star. So we have to trade for a good player and get some help for our team. There will be somebody who will probably trade that the fan base won’t necessarily like. … We do have to move a guy. We do have to move a guy to get where we want to go.

Why not cut Hunter and stay alive for the unforeseen or unexpected that happens around the deadline?

We have to consider all those options. With the advent of Randolph’s injury becoming long term and the fact that Radmanovic cannot play until well after the All-Star break, we’re sitting here without a (power forward) unless you play Maggette at (power forward) all the time. And he plays there some, we all know that. But if you play him there all the time, he probably gets beat up. We were looking at healthy bodies as far as keeping the team together. I know we’re not making the playoffs, but I owe it to our team and our coaches to put as much on the floor as we can so we can have a chance to compete. Now, that probably doesn’t override the question you’re asking. The fact is, after evaluating all of the trade scenarios that we’ve already been through, and looking at the salaries of the people who would be desirable for us to acquire, we can still acquire those people if in fact the people on the other side are willing to trade them. So it didn’t tie us down to let Speedy go.

If you have enough to get one of the guys you want, that means you gave away the excess. Could the excess have benefited you at the trade deadline?

The excess, talking about roughly that salary range, has gotten me no offers that I want to take right now. And I’ve been down that road in that salary range that we’re talking about, and been down it with several teams and have targeted the guys who are in that range. You’re going to say to me, ‘Then did you target this guy plus another guy plus another guy, which takes you to maybe $8 million, or something like that?’ We did all of the research we needed to do. We had to research all that. We had to go through it and weigh the whole thing out, and so we made the decision to go this direction. I told you today I wore a bright jacket. I expected to get shot. I didn’t expect to get machine gunned. I knew that if I made that decision, it was going to be a problem. And I did it because I believe in the things that we’re working on. It’ll all turn out. We’ll be able to look at the trades that are made and see if it would’ve happened to where maybe we screwed up. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Are you worried about the fact that even though you exhausted everything, somebody might have panicked at the deadline and given you something?

I hope I know who those teams might be that would’ve panicked and I’ve had a lot of discussions with them and I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think you’ll see a panick move in this year’s trade dealine because of the economy, the salary cap itself and the up and coming collective bargaining agreement.

Are you totally behind this decision?

Yes. It’s a decision I was presented with, needed to make. And it’s on me. And I understand that, and I understood when I made it that it would be criticized. It’s my day to take one bullet. I hope not 50.

Do you think about the judgment? A lot of the moves you made so far are all kind of waiting on what you do at the trade deadline or in the offseason, and this is one of the moves.

This is one that everybody will have some judgement on and some will lineup on the opposite side of it. Those who are cautious about will be saying, ‘Ok, let’s see what the next move is because this guy may not know what he’s doing.’ I’m well aware of that. I’m Ok with that.

Do you feel like the injuries hurt your ability to make moves?

The thing that squeezed us was we’re on a 17-man roster. If we hadn’t had these injuries, we might be sitting here with a 14-man roster and then you would be able to acquire this next guy no problem at all and you don’t have to cut somebody. So the injuries have caused the entire situation. Is that an excuse for the decision? No. But it put us in position to have to make the decision. You would hope that we won’t be into that kind of stuff in future seasons and we won’t have this kind of dilemma.

You traded Crawford and now with Speedy being waived, it looks like you got nothing for him. Is that an OK thing for you?

We looked at the overall picture in the Crawford trade and in that particular scenario, we felt it was important to try to create some playing time for Anthony Morrow. We did that before the draft. We weren’t 100 percent certain that we were going to draft a point guard, but frankly it looked like that it was going to be somebody else other than Stephen Curry for a while, but there was another point guard that could’ve been taken there. We felt if you’re going to end up in a istuation like that, and you need Morrow to play, and you’ve got Monta, then we need to move Crawford. Nellie was vocal last year about how he didn’t fit the system and stuff. But this was a move that we made to free up some playing time at that spot where Morrow could get a little bit more time. It also shortened the contract so to speak and, in that regard, it gave us some freedom that we wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.

What do you say to fans that don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. All they see is players going out and nothing coming in yet?

We have to draft well. There’s no question about that. We can’t just build the team around the next draft, but we have to draft well. And then what we have to do is sign a free agent this summer that’s going to be helpful to our team. And there’s going to probably have to be a trade in there that involves some player that is popular enough with our fans that it may not be a popular trade. But we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to use all three of those areas to do that. It hasn’t been done yet, so therefore people are going to have to say ‘All right I’m skeptical.’ So we’re going to have to show that we can accomplish those things and put a better team on the floor.

Still considering trading this year’s draft pick?

It’ll be hard to say whether or not we would move that pick. I like having the pick itself. If that pick got us a veteran player that would fit with our team, I would certainly consider it. There is no doubt that I would take a look at it. What I didn’t want to do is get encumbered where we had to give up a draft pick down the road or something like that. I like having this year’s pick available to do something with it if I need to or having next year’s pick available to do something with it if I need to.

Do you see somebody at three to five, where you guys could end up. that you think could help this team right away?

I do. The question is would we stay in that range of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It’s like all drafts – the farther back you go, the harder it is to find a guy. But I’m confident we can get some kind of help out of this draft should we choose to keep the pick.

So you believe it was not possible to get a player in the range of $9-$12 million by using just the expiring contracts you had?

It was not. In all of our discussions with the other teams, I didn’t find anyone who was willing to have a serious conversations about taking those expiring contracts and giving up a player of significance. Now there would be no point in giving up three expiring contracts, or two, for a player who is overvalued or who doesn’t add anything for our team.

You talked about signing Morrow and Raja Bell? Would you have enough to sign a free agent?

There wouldn’t be a lot, but it depends on the economy and what the number is that you have to use to sign Anthony Morrow, what the number might be to sign one of your own guys like a Raja Bell. If the economy takes over and those numbers go down, you probably can go get one more free agent.

Marcus Thompson

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Sorry but I don’t believe a word this guy says. He’s done all kinds of lying and spin doctoring in the past and will say anything to make management look good. The waiving of Speedy puts $ in Cohan’s pocket and does nothing to improve the team. Period. Those are facts, not some BS spin from a puppet GM. They gave away Crawford because of Nelly. Fact. They gave away Al because of Nelly. Fact. They gave away Jack (Bell and Vlad, yeah that worked out great) because of Nelly. Fact. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out what the common denominator problem is here.

zeke

Obviously the Warriors have absolutely no interest in competing in the league…they are entering Raider territory in terms of lying to themselves and going through the motions…Unfortunately the fans are not that stupid to sit by and let this level of incompetence slide. I would hope at this point fans would just give up on this worthless ownership group and boycott all warrior related spending until we have a new owner.

Burke

I like Riley. It’s easy to condemn him, given the bad luck the team has had this year. It’s easy for me to think of lots of cool trades the W’s could do with Speedy. But I can’t tell what the other teams are willing to bite on. I’m willing to trust that they just can’t get anyone interested. The warriors suck right now; why do we think anybody is interested in acquiring our _broken_ suckage?

some guy

What BS. They want to keep Raja, but now if a deal presents itself they’ll have to throw Raja’s expiring instead of Speedy’s. They need an extra big man? Hunter never plays meaningful minutes, makes squat & they could have just added another D-League big via a 10-day contract. They would still have the extra injury exception w/ Speedy still there & AR now out for the year. Rob Kurz is better than Hunter – at least he hits 3′s (over 40% last yr & i think he’s hitting them at a 45% clip in the D-League – and shooting 40% on 3′s is like shooting 60% on 2′s).

some guy

btw, though it would have been nice to make something out of Speedy, it’s not really about that. this is about how stupid management must be to choose Hunter over Speedy’s contract & another 10-day pick up like Kurz. frankly keeping him instead of Moore’s contract was dumb enough. the fact that they didn’t learn their lesson & still kept that scrub shows that Riley isn’t the answer.

it’s either that or they had no intention of picking up a worthwhile player with their expiring contracts in the 1st place.

How pathetic is this. Riley is a weasel. Of course this is saving Cohan money. Of course they not gonna make any more moves of any consequence. Riley is in Nelson pocket and Nelson is on Cohan pocket ( for a cool 5 mil per ). There are about 15-20 quality players we could get on the market with our expirings, with all these teams trying to get under the cap. Come on, there is Koby Karl running wild, throwing bricks, they started Mikki Moore for most of the season with catastrophic results, Hunter and Tolliver ($%^&@) and he is trying to tell us that they cant get a player better than that with expirings?!?

I honestly hope that this is pointing to the fact that Cohan is planning to exit this summer. If not, then we will have another sh** year next year as well and every year until he sells.

Mullin Fan

The scary thing is twice he mentions that he still plans on making a trade that will not be popular with fans. That in order to make a trade he will need to move a fan favorite. Sounds like Randolph to me. He is the player the rest of the league likes but the Warriors don’t value.

I thought the Marco B. trade was done for Morrow playing time, didn’t realize Crawford was as well.

http://www.woerriors.com DNR

Well they used the excuse that they couldn’t play Crawford and Monta together (too small, no D) but that didn’t stop them from drafting Curry. You really can’t trust anyone in the front office to tell the truth anymore, and it takes guys like Kawakami and Steinmetz (and Marcus) to take unfavorable team positions and tell them their shit stinks. Cause brown nosers like Fitz can’t smell it.

fotd

I don’t believe anymore.

My faith was tested,but:
-I still believed when we let J Rich go in a failed gambit for Garnett. Wright could turn into the post player we need.
-I believed still when we let Pietrus and Barnes go. There were better players to be had.
-I did when we let Baron go. He wanted too much. Monta could run the point.
-I did when Harrington went for Crawford. I wasn’t a fan of Jamal’s contract, but Al was flawed in the paint.
-I did when Crawford was dealt for expirings. We were saving up for something big.
-Ditto, Bellineli
-I did when Jackson was dealt for Bell and Vlad. Vlad’s contract, and possibly Bell’s, will help get that key piece.

For a devoted Warrior fan who wants to believe, it’s been a fine line between seeing hope in every move (often defying reason) and giving up. Many of these moves only made sense in the context of ‘this is what needs to be done to get that top level player.’ Now Riley has just said, we ain’t gettin’ one. The fans who gave up on these goofballs a year or two ago won’t be too surprised or disappointed. But if Riley is surprised at the few remaining loyalists’ reaction to wasting Speedy’s contract, it is because he has forgotten how getting the big one was the ONLY way the rest of these moves were, by any stretch of the imagination, excusable.

Tim Dwight

So they will not trade Monta? Monta and Steph will never be a starting backcourt on a contending team.

Ellis has already said that it wont work and he hasnt pretty much acted as if Steph does not exist when they are on the floor together.

Hell, Nellie acknowledged that, that tandem will not work together longterm.

What a joke. This team is gutless. Riley is just another in a long line of sub par gm’s. Nellie, Riley, Rowell and Cohan need to go.

Burke

Even if there is only a remote chance that they could have made a deal with Claxton’s contract, is keeping Hunter really worth throwing away that chance?

I guess we’ll see what trades do actually get made, and whether speedy’s money would have made a difference.

pointed questions….typical bloviated bs answers from a member of the clown car….once the team is sold he will be canned by hour 2. note to all….if someone can’t answer a question in a sentence or two…stay away….they usually need a teleprompter

Chris Webber

Riley and Nelson are cut from the same cloth. They are both liars and manipulators.

Cohan needs to sell this team, so it can start the recovery process of 15 years of suck.

freesanjose

Thing I don’t get, and maybe someone can educate me, but if the argument for next offseason is “We might not have enough room to sign a free agent” wouldn’t have keeping Claxton helped that?

http://baysportsblood.wordpress.com AdamBunnell

It seems ridiculous to defend a moronic move like burning $5.2 million because you think you are ok with the chips you have. The franchise is not in a position to just give away valuable assets and say “trust us” when like he said in the interview they are not a winning franchise. More options become available the more cards you have in your hand. I give Riley credit for doing a sit down and actually answering questions but man he’s frustrating. Better really deliver on this. Would love to see the Warriors get a Brandon Bass or Al Jefferson. If Raja Bell would resign with us, I think that could be a huge under the radar signing. Seems like the front office is banking on Monta or Curry stepping up into an Allstar status and putting pieces around them to compliment them. These are the Warriors of our lives.

earl monroe

Why talk about positions like power forward or small forward or shooting guard? does it really matter in the Nelson system?
Management is always talking out of the side of their mouths.

“we’re sitting here without a (power forward) unless you play Maggette at (power forward) all the time. And he plays there some, we all know that. But if you play him there all the time, he probably gets beat up. We were looking at healthy bodies as far as keeping the team together.”

What does the above mean? he doesn’t know how Nelson is going to coach? If they got rid of Tolliver, Nelson would be in heaven he could go even smaller.

Loading up on all those expiring contracts, you would think they had a plan.

Having mid level exceptions and not using them.

Hmmmmm……

And last night Nelson was at his worst at bench management, Curry was on a roll in the 3rd and he takes him out at the beginning of the fourth for Ellis (who was awful yesterday) and plays Watson and Karl until the 5 minute mark.

There was no issue with rest there, the kid did not play the whole second quarter.

Nelson is losing it

SML

The Warriors need two things to become competitive:

1. Rid of Nellie – see DNR post and add in the Warriors rid of CWebb because of Nellie. He is the root of the problem.
2. Acquire a low post scoring threat – In order for Morrow, Buike, Curry to be most effective we need a Boozer, Stoudamire, Bosh type of PF. Given we cannot likely acquire such player – see Riley comments as to why he felt he could cut Speedy – we need to find this player at a lower salary level. Maybe a Kaman, Milsap, West type player. We need to be willing to give up Randolph and/or Wright or Biedrins to do this. This type player is not NBA ready available in the draft.

I don’t believe we can succeed without both of these moves.

LilBallerx8

“There was no issue with rest there, the kid did not play the whole second quarter.

Nelson is losing it”

-Actually, Curry had 3 fouls in the first 7 mins, so that was a good thing.

dw

When I first started reading this I was thinkiing wow this is refreshing honesty from the W’s but by the thime I was finished it made me feel like these guys just don’t have a winning attitude. People who win in life don’t say ‘we can’t ‘ all the time. You know ‘Yes We Can’ and all that. You have to believe your a winner for other people to believe that and Riley doesn’t make me feel like he or this organization will ever be one. Just sad, I love this team but I really feel like what’s the point.

robert rowell

this was a twinkie defense if i ever heard it. crawford was moved to give more playing time to morrow? i thought that’s why belinellie was traded. larry riley is a fool. crawford got traded essentially for nothing. this franchise is giving players away and doesn’t care about getting better.

yet i saw a fairly full Boricle arena last night. what kind morons lined up and PAID to see that crap the GSW FO calls “competitive basketball?”

Eric

Those contracts would’ve gotten a mid-level mediocre player in return. Stack Jack wanted out; Harrington wanted out; Nelson wanted them out, under any circumstance, thus the trade for expiring contract attached to injured players. Would Toronto really have let Bosh go for that?

Eric

Botton line: Blame Nelson..no one wants to play for the dude.

Bobportman

Boy are youse guys angry. Essentially, you are saying that there were plenty of skilled, tough power forwards that other teams were anxious to get rid of for a few expiring contracts. Can you name some of those? Can you name one? Riley says he asked. He says the teams said no. So you guys are saying that Riley is a liar.

Also, could you name a PF that the Warriors could trade for that would take the Warriors to the playoffs this year (e.g. 30-8)? Can you name one that would stick around after this season? Of course not. Very good big men are not given away in the NBA, bad economy or not.

That said, it certainly does fit Cohan’s “Save money for me and I don’t care about the team” philosophy.

JEY

I’m thinking that Andris might get moved. Either that or Randolph. Both fan favorites, Andris being a lot term veteran but a big contract.

ALsMouthGuard

Riley is a puppet. The joke GM of the league. Minnesota is winning again, so as it’s looking, they will have a better record than the Warriors. Warriors are going to finish with one of the 3 worst records, but this guy is talking about trading the possible #1 overall for a good player, what a joke. It’s sad that we have a guy with no integrity or self worth that would allow himself to be a puppet and laughed at by the rest of the league.

HollywoodCharles

How about asking him how he feels ethically about taking people’s (often times hard earned) money and putting that product on the court? I mean at a certain point isn’t there an almost fraud issue for the NBA? And I don’t think I’m stretching it too far… I really don’t…

C-Biscuit

I love how passionate our fan base is, but find it funny how quick we are to crucify Riley before the trade deadline/all-star break. Let’s give the guy one trade season to see what type of vision/smarts he has. In his first NBA draft he selected arguably the best player in the field at the #6 slot in Stephen Curry– a player who’s going to turn into an elite point guard and be in Oakland for the next 10+ yrs. Riley may be handcuffed by upper mgmt, and don’t get me wrong I hate Cohen/Rowell and want LE to buy the franchise (and believe he will), but we still have a ton of young talent that is injured and not giving us an idea of what we even really have. Monta is my favorite player in the league, and arguably the best athlete in the NBA, but I still feel Curry is going to be a better PG when it’s all said and done. With that said, we’ve lacked an elite PF since I can ever remember, and that’s the most important piece we need ASAP. Again, I love Monta to death but also believe his trade value couldn’t be higher. Let’s swing a 3-team trade that deals Monta and bring Al Jefferson to G-State. The guy’s 25 yrs old, in the prime of his career, and will help our team in a way this fan base hasn’t seen in recent history. This is the time to have some balls… smart balls.

The whole organization is beyond sad, but one thing is for sure, Riley is right that no big name free agent would come here (he never said that of course) so why not let Speedy go for nothing at all (so what else is new).

They better hope beyond hope they land Wall because virtually every fan has hit the wall of the total inepititude of Cohan, Rowell and Nelson. They will desperately need #1 to start all the BS hype again and give the fans the glimmer of hope.

This particular team as currently constitued will suck next year no matter what until Nelson is gone and we have a coach that values and teaches defense. Everyone knows that includng Nelson but seemingly could care less.

The team is nearly unwatchable and fan base is demoralized and ready to leave en masse. Desperate times and desperate measures needed. Listen up Cohan cause next year you won’t get 5000 STH to renew. This year you fell to under 10,000; wait until next season you loser.

A’s in 2010

Either dump some of the vets like Maggette, Vlad for caspace and go young OR use the expiring contracts to land a player. You have to go one way or the other. We’re stuck in the middle. We’re the worst team in the Western Conference, capped out next year with $53M committed and only the mid-level exception. We are not gonna get better anytime soon.

People are afraid of capspace because no real player will sign here and only Maggette-level players would. BUT just look at OKC and how they use their caproom to take on expiring deals+stockpiling picks. That’s what Portland did too. Both teams are set, playoff teams for the next decade. I’m convinced the average poster here could GM better than Larry Riley.

Optimus

This was all about money, nut that is not such a suprise to me. Every other business is about money why do fans feel that sports is exempt from the recession. Sad but the truth.

Whack-a-Dub

Riley is a good GM, no matter if it just looks like Cohan’s hitman got rid of mullin for a figurehead GM.
I can’t wait till Ellison buys the Dubs, it will be a real turnaround for everyone. Especially Curry, can you imagine how much credit he would get on a winning team?

http://cctimes ECJ

Larry Riley has his hands tied, COMPLETELY. If Ellison really is looking to buy the W’s, Cohen will NEED to dump as much salary as he can to make his sale profitable. Plus, Ellison wont want to be saddled by Cohen’s Clowns’ horrible decisions.

Keep your heads up W’s fans: Dumping salary and NOT taking any back is a good sign; It suggests that the Warriors are nearing a sale. Like I’ve said before: until the team is sold, it doesn’t matter what players are here. Its like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..

ECJ

Whack-a-Dub

#22, if Cohan dumps Curry’s contract, oh my god, he better have plenty of body guards in public, that is if he ever leaves his office.

JohnStarks

God bless him, Riley has a tough job.

Anything short of .500 (or at least an improvement) next year is going to put that guy in the hotseat with the fans. With the injuries and whiney players, the Dubs’ season was over before it started. So, most of the fans (I did) wrote this season off early. That’s really why I don’t particularly care about wiping out Claxton’s contract; not much could make this season any worse.

The personnel moves don’t mean anything to Warrior fans. We don’t necessarily need a popular player, though that would be great. Dub fans like D-Leaguers! The fact is that we’re all tired of losing; the players, the coaches and the fans. Anything that doesn’t change that is going to draw heat. It doesn’t matter what name we sign.

I don’t need to remind anyone posting here about the serious playoff drought. At this point, I don’t even care about playoffs. Can we just be competitive? Other teams see the Dubs on the calendar and start licking their chops. The only time that was different in the last 15 years is when Baron Davis was here. The Warriors were actually a force. I have friends in LA who have every right to talk shit about my squad. What can I say? I have no response. The excuses are waaaaaaay past being plausible. Please, Riley, just field a respectable team. Hell, the refs don’t even have respect. Monta gets contact on 80% of his drives and gets almost no free throws.

So here we go again, on the Wheel of Chance with personnel moves. I pray to all that is holy that Monta doesn’t give up or get hurt. The Warriors are in danger of wasting his talent, similar to what the Lions did with Barry Sanders. It would be tragic for Monta not to be mentioned among the League’s winning elite.

PhilB

Now that the Warriors have an inexpensive face on the team (Stephen Curry) to sell tickets, expect any player with a contract greater than mid-level to be dumped, which includes Ellis, Maggette, and Biedrins. D-Leaguers are cheap alternatives to real NBA players, and young gifted players still on rookie contracts has to be like solid gold to these guys.
Marcus is right is this sense: Riley is simply doing his job as mouthpiece for, and buffer from, those truly accountable…Nelson, Rowell and Chris Cohan.
I’ll even go so far as to give him credit for at least lying to our faces…

Whack-a-Dub

JohnStarks, what the hell is wrong with you? We don’t need big names? Oh okay, lets fish for another 15 years for a guy other than Bosh to give us a double-double, and Davis wasn’t here for 15 years. He hasn’t been in the league for 15 years. And as long as Cohan’s jolly ass is bathing in cash and that parasite it in the same sentence as the W’s, we will always lose, and i personally believe that people like you are payed to calm down the Dubs nation. Dubs fans DO NOT LIKE D-LEAGUERS, they LIKE TO WIN, how much is Cohan going to treat it like nothing and keep pocketing cash?

Help us Larry Ellison, you’re our only hope.

Lary Ellison

tim dwight, i totally agree

earl monroe

#20- the point was that Curry was fresh from not playing the 2nd due to fouls so he was more than rested to play the fourth

KNC

There is a game on February 8th. Please BOYCOTT by not going to this game!

Jeremy

This move is inexcusable. Every response is littered with excuses and ends with the old “just trust me” line. He has done nothing to make anyone believe they should have confidence he is making sound decisions. Crawford, Jackson, Belinelli = George, Radmanovic, and a hurt Raja Bell. For a little salt in the wound, the three guys gone are going to the playoffs.

Larry Riley is just another St. Jean/Dave Twardzik. Explain to me again why Mullin was ousted again? Didn’t he take over the team and have them in the postseason in 3 years, sold out the stadium nightly, and had them as one of the “it” teams in the league that everyone was talking about? What’s more lucrative… that scenario of sellouts and postseason births or fans organizing boycotts through the internet? Cohan is a genuis!

Lufty455

They need to fire Nelson and Riley ASAP.
Cohan And Rowell will be ousted once Ellison buys the team.
They have no future with this staff.
They need a coach that will be a coach and not a dictator.

Whack-A-Dub

When is Ellison buying the W’s

I hope its not just some scandal to get Warrior fans hopeful again, because without Ellison, nobody would care.

AirplaneRider

What I find amusing is that people are pissed off because Riley didn’t do what exactly? Keep Speedy on the books through the trade deadline? Why? To get what exactly? I’d like to hear the specifics of this mega blockbuster trade that we passed on by cutting Speedy.

Sure there are a lot of things wrong with the team, but it’s like people just like to whine to hear themselves whine at this point. Pretty funny.

Whack-A-Dub

The player that Riley wants to waste next is Azubuike. It’s obvoius, what other hard-found talent could this figurehead screw up?

petaluman

Who’d have thought there were so many Speedy Claxton fans out there?

FWIW, any trade for a 10-14M player would probably require 1-2 of the following going out, just to get into that salary range: AB (9M), CM (9M), VR (6.5M), RB (5.2M), RT (4.1M). I highly doubt we’d trade Andris, Ronny, BW, or AR unless we’re getting a quality big back.

Whack-A-Dub

Why can’t we trade Wright? He sucks, and Petaluman, we don’t like Speedy Claxton, but he is a big chip for trading

Whack-A-Dub

Also, RB and VR are both expiring unless Vladamir wants to sign for next year.

deano

The negotiating season still has another ten days to go. Riley would be stupid to say thet he would trade Ellis or Curry, even if it were true. He can credibly state that those players are untouchable. He could not maintain his credibility with other NBA GMs if he were to say that he is unwilling to trade Maggette.

In this regard, Riley shows more brains Nellie. Nellie is famous for bad-mouthing his own players and thereby diminishing their trade value (see Harrington, Al; and Crawford, Jamal). Until February 18, our hope is still treading water. Starting that evening, it can sink to the bottom.

Usually Lurking

There will be no trade. You don’t throw away a useful bargaining chip if you’re in the trade market.

Getting a good player means paying a good player and Cohan won’t do that. So don’t be surprised if there’s no significant free agent signing in the offseason either.

I guess you can’t say the front office doesn’t have a Plan though… this move actually makes it even clearer. The Plan is to minimize cost as much as possible.

Success on the court is not a priority for the Golden State Warriors.

Doh-Fiend

I agree we couldve used speedy’s contract as good trade bait.

However if there isn’t any interest there is nothing u can do with it.
I’d rather we not cut speedy. Let toliver walk. Sign kurz or whoever.

Keep that contract until AFTER the deadline.

GSW have made BAD decisions recently.
We got nothing for J-Rich
nothing for harrington cuz Crawford was traded for nothing.
Got nothing for Capt Jack even tho his additude had to go.

For how many years have we heard “this moves gives us more FLEXIBILITY”.
It’s getting old because we are not seeing positive results

Foxman

Riley is a fraud. That is the most incredible doubletalk I’ve ever heard. He hasn’t done anything of value at all except help Nellie assemble a d-leauge team that will listen to him because no NBA player worth anything will listen to Nellie anyomore. My only hope is ellison buys the team sand hires someone like Jerry West to get us out of this morass.

marko

Riley sounds plausible until you evaluate the organization’s activity the past 2 years:

3 way trade:
Monta and Sasha Pavlovic to Sacramento
Kevin Martin and Anthony Randolph or Brandan Wright to Minnesota
Al Jefferson and Omri Casspi to the Warriors

Mike

It’s clear the Warriors’ management are a bunch of liars. Dumping Claxton’s contract now was total bull and should tell everyone that this team is not going to make moves necessary to win. I’ve been a Warrior fan since they arrived in the Bay Area, and I give up!

George

Expiring contracts are worthless to a club like ours. We need to build with the draft and the only way of doing well with that is to get early picks. OKC had a bad team for several years and drafted 3 guys in the top 5.
We sucked last year and still only got a number 6. We were lucky that the Curry fell to us. We are going to be bad for a couple more years.
Just forget about a free agent signing here. As far as trades Baron was hated by his coach in New Orleans and we were lucky that they gave him up. NO one willingly comes to this organization

Whack-A-Dub

Mike, Obviously, Riley is going to lie. Cohan is an asshole and the only way we get Lebron or Bosh is, get Ellison to buy the dubs before the offseason (cmon Larry, we need you NOW). He talked to Lebron when he came to Oracle. The guy is the 4th richest man in the world, and knows what bullshit and underdog mean. Oracle is always being harassed by Microsoft stealing technology and using it for themselves. Trust me, the guy knows what to do and looks like someone that wants to run a franchise, not sit back and be the worst owner in all of sports. As for the trade, yes now that Monta is down, bye bye Magette, and Riley saying the backcourt is “untochable” its just a way of increasing their value, like saying its in case we really need it. This guy is an asshole. And has anyone noticed that Cohan, Nellie, and Riley all look alike??

Jeremy

How about Beidrins and Randolph to Minnesota for Kevin Love, Mark Blount’s expiring contract and a swap of their ’10 pick for the Warriors ’11 pick (1st rounders)?

Love can shoot a little bit, is a better rebounder than maybe anyone on the team, and those outlet passes to Monta and Curry would start a lot of extra fastbreaks. Blount saves the Warriors’ satan owner ~$8M. Plus the Warriors would have a shot at two top 5 picks…

The Twolves wouldn’t be much better this year with Randolph hurt, but next year Flynn, Brewer, Gomes, Jefferson, Beidrins is a pretty sweet starting lineup and Randolph is a potential star. I don’t know if that’s worth a top 5 pick or not… but supposedly the Wolves want more young veterans to help stabilize the team. It at least accomplishes their #1 MO of moving Jefferson to PF.

Whack-A-Dub

I like Kevin Love, but we’d be better off with Turfiaf and Tolliver going for Al Jefferson and their first round pick. Minnesota is doing horrible This year, and if we could snag Derrick Favors AND Cole Aldrich at once, god Riley would be the hometown hero for a long time.

We could throw in Vladamir and Raja Bell in there:
Bell, Radmonavic, Tolliver, Wright for Jefferson and a first rounder

immafan4ever

I’ve been a fan of the warriors for at least 30yrs. I’ve listened on radio when most of games weren’t on tv. I don’t care who buys the team as long as they try to put a good product on the floor. All of you who rant and rave about the supporting fans just don’t get it. We aren’t just there during the good years (and there hasn’t been many) we’re there all the time. I read the comments that some of you post and they’re ridiculous. Most can’t manage their checkbooks and but believe they have the wisdom to run a professional team. Others whine and pine for past players who helped us as much as they ever could. I would like to see a different coach that promotes defense so we can stop those 3rd qtr runs that tend to put us on the losing end. And don’t believe the myth that nobody wants to come here. Baron didn’t go to the Clippers because of the lure of their uniforms. Maggette didn’t come here because of the Golden Gate. If you pay them, they will come. As far as the uproar over Claxton, he was an asset but the injuries made him a liability at the time. We’ll see if it us hurts at trading time. Either way I’ll be there because a I’m a fan forever.

Harp’s Dubs

@Jeremy – nice idea about Love. Minnesota will not trade their potential #1-4 pick this year however because we may be good next year (depending on this summer) and the pick may be significantly lower. Minnesota would give up their second rounder with Love and Blount for Goose and Randolph. I have the feeling Kahn will not move Love, but his skillset would be a nice complement to Turiaf and Brandan Wright next year. I also like the ability to shed Blount’s contract this summer.

Whack-A-Dub

whoops, made a mistake back there. it would look like:
Curry/Watson/Monta
Ellis/Watson/Azubuike/Curry/Morrow
Morrow/Magette/Randolph/Favors
Jefferson/Randolph/Turiaf/Favors
Biedrins/Aldrich/Turiaf
Ellison takes over as owner, fires all of cohan’ clowns, including nellie and the newest member of the circus, Larry Riley. He hires a GM that is actually a GM,not a two year old in a Fat white man’s body. we acquire byron scott as head coach and were pretty much on our way to 50 wins. Oh and hire Nate thurmond as a player development coach to help develop favors,randolph, aldrich, etc.

Whack-A-Dub

No way we’re getting Love, Harp’s, not with this kind of bad management

wildwest

I’m so weary of people trashing Larry Riley. I have known him personally for 20 years, and the guy is as straight as an arrow, loaded with integrity and class. In an industry of selfish lightweights, GS is fortunate to have him–stick with him, and believe what he says. I am honored to call him my friend!

dan

Cohan will have to sell if the oracle arena is empty from now to rest of season. Ellison is not in a hurry because he knows the W’s are going down…The W’s will have to overpay for FA ala Magette so keeping the cap space won’t do them any good. They have to resolve the ownership situation first the hope to get lucky in the draft.

Whack-A-Dub

dan, should the warriors get favors, a PF/SF that has a dominant offensive game, or Cole Aldrich, a C with a dominant rebounding game that is on a winning team?

dan

Whack-A-Dub:

The W’s need a beefy PF and I do mean BEEF like 240+, not another skinny Randolph or Wright. A quick/skilled SF would do too. They can not draft another skinny 210-220 lbs forward and hope the guy will get better/bigger.

If Wall is there, get him then deal Curry. I am not a Curry fan, period.

Whack-A-Dub

the only two in the upcoming draft that fit that are

deMarcus Cousins (280 but not explosive, no offesive game, does not run the floor, clear no-pick for the Dubs.)But cousins can run the floor, and push the ball and has a decent shot. Off the court he would be a phenomenal dunker in a dunk contest, but is REALLY unexplosive in a game, he plays like he just woke up.

then there is Cole Aldrich(245) who is a good rebounder and outlet big man, not the Kevin Love type, but would be a legit C for the W’s. also look at Kansas’ record, it shows this guy can win games with a solid backcourt.

then comes Derrick Favors. 6-9, 246, a bulky athletic beast who shows a great work ethic. Can run the floor easily. He can pick and pop with a mid-range jumper. Shoots from the line decently. The guy can crash boards even when you don’t crash boards, I mean he can rebound. he runs the floor very easily. He shows a high IQ for the game. averages 2 blocks per game, he is a shotblocking presence and makes people change their shots even if he doesn’t block shots, but the guy gets fatigued. What do you think, dan?

Whack-A-Dub

only three

Whack-A-Dub

This is exactly why I say go for Minnesota or Washington’s pick. We’re going to give up Magette and George anyway, at least get a first rounder for them. If we can keep playing as horribly as we can, we’ll have the no.2 pick in no time.

Apparently the T’wolves only got rubio as a huge chip, they’re really after Wall now.

Lufty455

Do you guys think they can fire themselves???
I mean Nellie, Riley, Rowell, and Cohan.
I tried giving my tickets away but I could not find any takers…

Jeremy

If the Warriors end up #2 I’d say they have to go with Evan Turner. He could play as a big PG with Ellis, or he could shift over to SF when Curry is on the floor and give the team two lethal passers who can score.

Actually, if they end up with #1 I hope they trade down and grab Turner. I know they will get the #1 pick this year just so they can screw up having to choose betwen Ellis, Wall, and Curry of which two to keep. I keep Ellis and Curry if I’m the Warriors.

Wes Johnson looks like a clone of Shawn Marion, I’ll take that too.

Athletically, the big man I’d want is Cousins but I fear in a circus like this place he would go more the way of Jackson than Curry.

I like Greg Monroe more than Favors. Both have significant upside yet to be reached, but Monroe looks much better on offense. He’s a year older so it should be expected, but just my opinion.

Please no Cole Aldrich… please. He is only a lottery pick for lack of 13 players better, not because he is a future NBA star or even All Star. He shouldn’t even be in the conversation.

Whack-A-Dub

Jeremy, turner is the last guy we want.Another big with an undersized game? no thanks. I like how he can play multiple positions, but I’ve already seen Tyreke Evans and the last thing the Dubs need is a guy that is ball dominant and turnover prone. Favors and Cousins are probably better. Favors is a shotblocking presence, whereas cousins seem to get dunked on once a week.

dan

The w’s need a guy who can camp inside and bang people around even if he has limited offensive skill. Someone who can grab boards and bang bodies. Biedrins is just too skinny. Look at Howard in Orlando, he has no offensive game but he is big, physical and nobody can move him out of the painted area. I like Favors even tho he is still too young. I don’t like Cousins who seem to be lazy…Imagine if Biedrins weighe 250+ instead of 230, he would be what the W’s need.

James H

I finally gave up on the GSW’s 2 years ago when they lost Baron and ended up with Magette…the insanity involved which culminated in Mullin’s exit is not worth revisiting. The Warriors front office makes the Raiders situation look reasonable. This team has no plan, no future, and no hope. It is a disgrace from top to bottom and has been for years. Every move they make is beyond comprehension. An ape throwing darts at an option chart would have made far better choices than these clowns. I have been a huge fan for over 30 years and I just can’t care anymore…too depressing. It broke my heart to let the Raiders go 5+ years ago and now I must do the same with the Warriors. We seem to be cursed in the Bay Area with all of our major sports franchises owned and managed by incompetent fools. The A’s are an exception of sorts though they are owned by billionaires who can’t find theirs wallets and who clearly have no interest in getting a new stadium built; knowing that we’ll gobble up the lip service and feel sympathy because evil cities, teams (SF Giants), and MLB are at fault for all of the delays. All of this BS has turned me off to sports in general…I don’t go to games anymore and often go weeks without seeking local sports news. There is no player continuity, no reason for optimism, no reason to get emotionally invested anymore. I still have a passion for sports and I miss it intensely at time but our local teams and the state of major sports in general have just ruined it for me…and for many other I know. If I were into hockey…I could get behind the Sharks as their ownership and management know how to run a franchise. It really isn’t about winning (although wining is nice), it is about seeing those running a team actually care…having them take pride in the product they are selling to us…having them show that they respect their fans and the hard earned money we spend supporting our teams. I just don’t feel that anymore. It is a sad pathetic situation. My life is less enjoyable as a result but I simply cannot endure the constant absurdity and disrespect any longer.

Aaron

All you can do is laugh and cry, cry and laugh. The Warriors and most of the fans that consider themselves “diehards” are insane. “We had to make room for Morrow to play” Hilarious. Would he be starting or being made room to play on a playoff team? Negative. Would Buike be getting more than 10-15 minutes of run on a playoff team? Negative. It’s so sad how low hard and fast this team has fallen since the magical playoff run. I think some of the people here have it right, this team is at Raiders level or worse. They are so atrocious, don’t really play any brand of basketball, and can’t be watched for more than five minutes straight unless you have a five gallon bucket of GSW “Do You Believe” kool-aid next to the couch. You couldn’t screw up a team more if you tried. They’d be better off hiring a chimpanzee as their GM.

luckypaul

Lots of good comments. One thought overwhelms all others: Fire Nellie. Why is he still coaching?!

Whack-A-Dub

Aaron, I agree, this team isn’t even rebuiding. We’re like the nets, but we suck more. We’re not even getting the #1 pick. And why the hell is Monta still here? He should have been kicked off the roster the minute Curry had that 10th rebound. Riley is a joke. So is Cohan. So is Nellie. I hope they’re all gone next year, with a new Larry as the owner, a guy that wants to buy another franchise and move it here. Bullshit. Cohan’s selling the W’s for 400mil.That’s almost 100mil over asking price. Curry is literally the only legit prospect that isn’t just a ten year project that will be effective once they get old enough to sign a $500,000 contract with some other team and lead them to a championship as a “veteran”.

If we don’t have Ellison buy the franchise before the playoffs, have him get us a high pick and trade Monturnover and Fagette away for someone else’s lottery pick, this team is doomed. No way we can rebuild next year, with a draft full of flops.